NAPW Feature Story: On Target! Understanding Which Social Media Site Works Best for You

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. And, that’s only three! With numerous social media options available to professional women today, creating and successfully running a social media marketing campaign for your business, product or service is easy. The trick is knowing which social media sites reach your specific target audience. So, let’s get social!

Facebook It
Worldwide, Facebook has over one billion users. Effectively connecting with your customers, whether you reach a wide demographic or a small one, makes this social network the perfect place to start and test your campaign. Plus, if you’re trying to reach women, according to CMS Wire, the largest percentage of Facebook users are women.

Twitterverse
Twitter is gaining on Facebook with over 500 million users who also search for content on a multitude of subjects. It’s also a great place to start and test your campaign. Popular with the 18 to 29 audience, its base is densely populated in urban areas. Recently, headhunters have taken to tweeting job posts, which is making Twitter a new venue for those seeking employees or finding employment.

Pinteresting
With a simple concept, “pinning” images to boards, Pinterest has gained enormous momentum over the past year, with 72% of women ages 18 to 50 doing all the “pinning.” Users are educated, with most having attended college or with a bachelor’s degree. This is a great “image-centric” network for showcasing photos of your products or services, with ease of content sharing.

LinkedIn or Out
Increasing business and gaining business-to-business connections is what LinkedIn is all about. Designed for educated professionals to advance their careers, the majority of users have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, according to Quantcast, and are between the ages of 25 to 64 with an average income of $100,000. If you’re looking to reach an upscale, educated consumer mainly consisting of business professionals, this is the social media spot for you.

Google+ or Minus
With steady growth, reaching over 500 million users, Google+ is largely used by men. According to Social Statistics, nearly 70% of total users are men, making it the best way to reach this demographic. Most are well-educated with backgrounds in technology-based fields. Launching a campaign with Google+ obviously makes sense if you’re looking to reach this market.

Tumblr Blogr
This microblogging site offers users the opportunity to share content, including text, images, audio and links, with the ability to upload original content or reblog other users’ content. Tumblr’s easy-to-use interface is the main contributing factor to its success, with brands such as J. Crew and IBM increasing their Tumblr reach. With a main demo of users in the 13 to 25 age group, if your business, product or service target audience is young people, Tumblr is the way to go. According to the Real Time Report, 61% of teens and 57% of young adults use this site regularly, while only 52% of young adults use Facebook.